A Traditional Thanksgiving

Another pet peeve of mine!

I know that we will be listening to Christmas carols for the full hour it takes to drive to my in-laws' house today; the deal I have with Himself is that he will not subject me to anything Christmas-related until Thanksgiving Day!  I'm with Nordstrom on that.  

The hatches are already battened, although I do feel slightly better about the impending season since we finally sat down and decided what we are getting for the kids and placed some online orders.  I'm not quite so far behind the 8-ball anymore.

And I even relented when he wanted to watch Love Actually last night, even though it is technically a Christmas movie.  Of all the tangled plotlines in there, my favorite is Jamie and Aurelia (no surprise given my adoration of all things Colin Firth!) closely followed by John and Judy.  Laura Linney's character makes me so sad...clearly I am lower than dirt, but I'm not sure I could make that kind of sacrifice and I really have a hard time watching her scene with Karl after the Christmas party.  And of course, after a glass or two of wine I find myself flipping off the tramp secretary and her slimeball boss every time I see them on screen!  (Ahem.)

Anyway, the turkeys for the kids' dessert are made, and actually came out very well (not quite as pretty as the picture below, but hell, I'm a scientist, not an artist!)  If you ever try to make them, do use the kind of chocolate cookie frosting that comes in a pouch and is designed to harden quickly for the 'glue' that holds them together--this is critical.  And it is much easier to pipe the details if you use the small tubes of decorating frosting (not gel) rather than the large tubes.

Per tradition, we will go down to my in-laws' house early, let the kids and the dogs (ours and my sister-in-law's Belgian Malinois) run outside until they tire themselves out, and then eat.  At the end of the evening, Himself loads up the kids and the dogs and comes home, while I stay over in preparation for the traditional Black Friday shopping experience with Himself's mother and sister.

Now, let me say that I had never in my life shopped on Black Friday before marrying into this family, but it's one of those bonding things.  (Much like running all those races with them early on!)  Ours is a fairly civilized version of the insanity--we leave at 7, not in the middle of the night--it's more a girls' day than a frantic search for bargains or I would have opted out long since, tradition or no tradition.  We do the same route every year, pick up some Christmas presents, have a nice lunch, buy shoes at DSW and makeup at Sephora, and return exhausted and with a full car mid-afternoon.  Himself and the kids will have come back while we're out; we eat leftovers and then all load up and go home in the evening.  Then we have Saturday and Sunday to recover!

Wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving, wherever you may be and however you are celebrating it...